Start time

If a match is scheduled for 10:00, the match begins at 10:00. If it is scheduled for 10:30, it begins at 10:30. The warm-up period of 15 minutes is included in the scheduled time.

A player may not leave the court after the match has started without the permission of her opponents.

Tardiness

A player arriving late and within the warm-up period will have the remaining time to warm-up. A team arriving after the allotted 15-minute warm-up loses the first set (0-6) but has the right to a 15-minute warm-up.

Retired:

In case of injury or discomfort, the injured player is allowed one injury time out period of 5 minutes. If she wants to leave the court, she must have the permission of the opposing team. If after the 5-minute allotted time she cannot resume play, the match results in a loss and marked as “Retired”. However, the losing team keeps the point of any set won before the injury.

The match counts in the average for the winning players only. The match is cancelled for the injured player and her partner and is excluded from their statistics.

This match is included in the CRA calculations for all four players.

The winning team receives 1 point for the match and 2 or 3 points for the sets depending on if a set was won by the losers before retiring.

Default

There are 3 loses by defaults when the entire team does not show up; the other team automatically wins 3 matches and 9 set points. If one of the teams has only 4 players, the third court is automatically lost by default. If only 2 players show up, they must play on court 1. In every match won by default, the winning team gets 1 point for the match and 3 points for the sets. The scoresheet should include only the names of the players who played.

NOTE when a no-show is really a "did not arrive": The players who are registered on the score sheet and do not show up to play the match lose 0-6 0-6. This loss counts in the number of times played, meaning the Win % goes down for the losers who did not show. This is only for a situation where the players were expected and a team was waiting for them to show. Four names are on the sheet for said court which can be any court. For the winners, their Win % goes up.

NOTE: A team will be penalized in the match points’ column in the standings:

2 points if the team is a no-show.

1 point if the team has only 2 players who show

A 24-hour notice is required for cancellation of a match by a team. In the event of non-compliance with this rule, the defaulting team shall bear the costs of courts reserved. The captain must call the club and contact the captain of the opposing team. (AGA 2016) (See Captain's responsibilities). The defaulting team (or players) cannot resume play in the league until its share of the said costs is paid.

courts & spectators

Court number 1 is the court that is the closest to the spectators. If matches cannot be played on 3 consecutives courts, court 1 always has to be the one which is closest to the spectators and court 3 the one which is furthest. If chairs, benches, or stands are on the courts, the players who are playing the matches cannot prevent spectators from accessing the courts. (AGA 2012)

Scoring:

Two out of three sets (with advantage) are played. The team winning the match receives 1 point. If won in 2 sets, the team receives 3 points in the sets and if won in 3 sets the points are divided 2-1 or 1-2.When a team has a "bye", 2 matches and 4 sets are added to the team’s standings.

Time constraint:

Time is limited to 2 hours of play by the clubs hosting us. Therefore, 15 minutes before the end of the match, if the 2nd set is not completed and if the score is not 6-5, a tie-breaker of 7 points (with advantage) begins. The tie-breaker shall begin with the existing score in the set in progress, whatever it is (5-5, 4-2, 1-2, 0-3). When the score is 6-5 an additional game is played to determine a victory of 7-5 or a 6-6 draw. In the latter case a tie-breaker starts at 0-0.

Finish or concede a match

During the series leading to the finals, the administrative committee of TFIM request that all matches be finished in the same manner as the regular season. All matches count towards the ranking.

However, the committee recognizes that it is ultimately up to the players involved to decide if they want to continue or not. To maintain our transparency and how the CRA is calculated in Tenniscores, it is absolutely necessary to have actual scores and to identify the winning team on three courts.

The following guidelines are suggested to determine the winners of a match being conceded or unfinished:

It must be decided: Which team concedes the match?The team that concedes loses the game; the victory is awarded to the opponents.If both teams cannot agree on who concedes the match, the game must continue to determine the winners in the same way as during the regular season.

NOTE: follow the rule of the day at the finals.

In Tenniscores:

For each finished match: The score is entered normally and the winning team is selected from the drop down menu.

For a conceded match: "not finished conceded" is entered in the COMMENTS box. The team declared the winner is selected from the drop down menu. The score for a set must be greater in number for the winners of the set. If the team who concedes was losing when stopping the score is entered as such. If the team who concedes led when stopping, they concede the number of games necessary for their opponents to have a majority of games for each set. EX: the score when stopping was 6-4, 4-2 becomes 6-4, 4-5 and 0-1.

Last 15 minutes tie breaker

TIEBREAKER

15 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE END OF THE MATCH (AT 11:45AM OR 12:15PM), A 7-POINT TIEBREAKER IS PLAYED

AT 6-5: an additional game is played in order to determine a 7-5 victory or a 6-6 draw.

AT 6-6: a tiebreaker starting at 0-0 is played.

ALL OTHER SCORES: the tiebreaker starts with the existing set score (2-5, 0-1, etc.).

EVEN SCORE 2-2: the server has one serve on the deuce side. the next server has two serves beginning on the ad side.

ODD SCORE 2-3: the server has two serves beginning on the ad side.

Continuous play

As a principle, play should be continuous, from the time the match starts (when the first service of the match is put in play) until the match finishes.

The maximum time starts from the moment that one point finishes until the first service is struck for the next point.

25 seconds: After a point ends the server has 25 seconds to start the next point.

90 seconds: When changing ends, players have a maximum of ninety (90) seconds to rest.

After the first game of each set, play shall be continuous and the players shall change ends without a rest.

120 seconds: At the end of each set, players can rest a maximum of 2 minutes. If the set ends with a number of games adding up to an odd number, players change sides after the rest period. If the set ends with a number of games adding up to an even number, players do not change sides after the rest period.

In the case of an error, the players change sides as soon as the error is discovered.